In wheel-type odometers such as those used in motor vehicles to register the distance traveled, there is commonly employed a plurality of number wheels that are rotatably mounted on a drive shaft and are driven by a drive wheel fixed to the shaft and in proper additive sequence by planetary gear sets interposed between adjacent ones of the gears. To ensure that these gears remain in mesh yet are not tightly pressed such as to cause binding, there is commonly provided either a predetermined clearance (end play) in the wheel assembly relative to the drive wheel or a spring-loaded end play control arrangement that is typically comprised of a coil spring located between a pressed on washer and the wheel assembly. Typically, the wheels and the drive gear are plastic parts whose shrinkage can vary with their molding temperature and whose reversible expansion and contraction with ambient temperature extremes is significant as compared to the gear mesh dimension. As a result, their tolerance stack up is difficult to control and they thus require either a clearance washer fit or a spring-loaded type end play arrangement to produce the desired end play allowance. In either case, there is required selective fit to provide either a finite amount of end play or a predetermined light spring-load since in the latter case this spring-load is desirably maintained low so as not to incur inordinate frictional drag in the drive system.